Author: Sue

Sorry, sorry sorry, late again but honestly it really isn’t my fault.  My computer has decided that, like my cooker Betsy, it would like to cause me as much grief as possible. Had to call in the big guns and now thanks to Keith and Colin I can update you with what has been ‘occurring’.

Balto the gorgeous old English Setter arrived safe and sound …………………. and within ten seconds had scaled the two metre high fencing around his new park !  Thinking he had jumped on to the roof of the kennel and then got over, Ernst took the roof off the kennel to test.  Nope, Balto boy was  back at the house before we were.  So, we had a problem because our perimeter fencing is the same height as the fencing round the parks.  The lovely lady who had driven all the way with him made a discreet escape whilst I walked Balto elsewhere but as soon as he realised she had left, he was down climbing the gates !  Luckily he is very obediant so came when called but just to be on the safe side I kept him with me on a lead for the first evening.  He slept in the kitchen with the little oldies and seemed quite happy with that and now we can leave him loose in the garden and he doesn’t try to escape.

Remember I mentioned Lina in the last newsletter ?  Well she didn’t get adopted after all so she is now here at Poorpaws and (now Nina) is an absolute delight……..even if walking on the kitchen table seems to be a skill she has learned somewhere !  We are now awaiting the arrival of a very elderly Beagle who has had a miserable life up to now, hoping that we can make his last years comfortable and happy.

Regular readers of this newsletter will have noticed that Poorpaws has changed direction slightly over the last year.  When I started back in 2003 I would take in strays and find them new homes.  Well, obviously some of the dogs never did get new homes and are still with us which left little space for new arrivals.  We now have about 17 dogs who will never move on because of age or behaviour problems.  So what about all the other poor dogs out there ?  Well you have heard me talk about Danielle many times.  Danielle runs La Mere aux Betes another private refuge in Castelnau.  Like Poorpaws she is a one man band but we work together in homing dogs.  The dogs go to Danielle and I put them on the Poorpaws website so that she can deal with both French and English adopters very easily.  If you are wondering why I still have fund raisers if I am not taking in many dogs, well, 17 old dogs need a lot of care, grooming and, oh, they like to eat every day as well!  I am now retired and I’m sorry to say that my pension alone does not provide enough to keep Ernst and me and all the dogs.  Adoption fees go to Danielle which is quite normal as she has the care of them and so far, my selling greetings cards together with our Book Sales and Clothes sales, keeps our heads above water -with a little underwater swimming now and again !

Last week ‘my own’ dog Jip, a Brittany Spaniel mix (of course !) ran off whilst on a walk.  Now he has never done this before, he charges around but always stays close.  But, a deer came out from the trees and was so close to me I could have touched him/her had I not been so shocked.  Jip couldn’t believe it and he was off as fast as his little legs could go.  He hadn’t rejoined us at the end of the walk, nor had he come home by 11.30 pm which his aged chase companion had.  I was distraught and went out to our back gate every hour up to 3am.  Now the very strange thing is that when you lose a dog, you should leave your jacket near to where you parted company.  I have done this on several occasions and it works, the dog comes back recognises your smell (sorry !)  and curls up on the jacket.  Well I put  mine down close to our gate at 1am, went back an hour later and it had gone !  Disappeared !  Now there is no path leading up to behind our place and surely no-one would be walking there at that time in the morning and even if they had the other dogs would have set up a racket fit to deafen the village. Jip came back at 9am the following morning looking bedraggled and soaked, my swollen eyes got back to their normal size by the end of the day, but as to the jacket, well it’s a mystery !!  So if when you are walking you see a deer or sanglier wearing a torn Primark walking jacket, can you ask if I can have it back please ?!

The brown ‘Dude’ puppy has been reserved as has the gorgeous Cannelle.  in fact it is a friend of mine, Jackie, in England who is adopting Cannelle and her wonderful son, Dominic, is driving her all the way down here from Guildford to take lucky Cannelle back.  I do hope someone takes the little Beagle soon and the beautiful creamy Griffon mix, now there’s an absolute poppet

Now I’m back on line I better get the adoptions page up to date.  I’ll definitely be late with the news next month as I will be in England for my godson’s wedding.  Poor Nick, I have an audio cassette of him when he was six thanking me for sending him a SuperTed annual for Christmas, he (Nick, not SuperTed) is now 35 and probably won’t appreciate the cassette being played at his wedding !

Oh, by the way, don’t go and see Still Alice, get the book it’s much, much more interesting.  Can’t think how they made such a bland film out of a ‘can’t put down’ book !

Love,

Sue xx

 

Happy Easter everyone.  Sorry this month’s spouting is rather late, I was waiting so that I could give you the results of our Easter Barn Book Sale which we held yesterday.  Wow !  Again I say “Wow” !  It was fantastic, those of you who supported us were great, streaming in with empty bags, boxes and tummies to fill.  It was our Personal Best and we raised over 1,550 euros for dog rescue which is always dear to our hearts and cancer research which is especially dear to our hearts at the moment. 

The money is split 50/50  the Poorpaws share  paying off our vets bill (look out for vets in Prayssac dancing in the street !) and paying for a super duper Ritz/Savoy double kennel being made for us at cost price ready for a couple of large oldies who have to leave their home and who cannot be separated.  This will be ready for them when their poor elderly, confused owner finally decides she will go into a home.  She has changed her mind several times because she cannot bear to leave her dogs but, hey, sweetheart, you take all the time you need, the place for your ‘babes’ is here waiting for when you are all ready.  There will be pennies left over for the next two months’ dogfood and, as usual, a donation to Twilight.  Typical of her generosity Leeanne has been in touch to say that, for personal reasons, she wants the Twilight share to go to cancer research

Twilight is another cause which holds a special place here at Poorpaws.  Many years ago Leeanne and Mike, two of the kindest people ever to exist, adopted a couple of dogs from Poorpaws to keep their gorgeous Golden Retriever company.  They loved having dogs so much and were interested in what Poorpaws was doing, so put forward the idea of setting up’ Poorpaws Dordogne’.  Now I love Leeanne and Mike enormously but Poorpaws has always been  basically a one man band and I have seen too often what happens when more people come in to help run a charity.  Even though everyone is working for the same aim, differences of opinion creep in, tempers get frayed and before you know where you are, the aim you are working for takes second place to soothing ruffled feathers.  So I thanked Leeanne and Mike very much but explained my fears.  They then came back with the wizard idea of Twilight and the rest is history.  So, Poorpaws was started thanks to inspiration from Pheonix and Twilight followed on.  The funny thing is that Poorpaws is now more like Twilight as we can only take in old dogs when we have a space and my friend Danielle at La Mere aux Betes takes in the ‘adoptables’ which we home together.

Must tell you about my great new way of getting dogs homed.  A couple of weeks ago my attention was drawn to a beautiful Griffon, Vickie, who is the spitting image of my lovely Bella who died two years ago.  Vickie is a lovely old girl of about 12 years old.  She had been taken away from her owner who was cruel to her and had been languishing at a refuge for three years without anyone taking any notice of her.  I couldn’t let her languish any longer so called, left a message that I would like to adopt her and followed up with an email.  Well, I got a reply to say that astonishingly, after three years of being ignored, I was the second person that weekend to want to adopt her !  So, being the second, obviously I didn’t get her but I want to say thanks a million to the people who were kind enough to take Vickie into their hearts and homes.

Then I saw Lina, another elderly lady in another refuge who was so like my Dany who forgot her green cross code with tragic results.  Again, I set the wheels in motion to bring Lina here.  Unfortunately I couldn’t collect her until later in the month and have been told that, yes, you guessed it, after a long time in the refuge, Lina has amazingly got someone else looking to adopt.

So, I’m thinking if I call all the refuges and tell them I want to adopt all their dogs, they should all be homed between now and Easter Monday !!

We will be welcoming Balto into Poorpaws next week.  Poor Balto an aged Setter was left behind locked in a garage when his owners moved house!!!  We only found him when the landlord was getting the locks taken off and changed to get into the house that they discovered him and called us. It is when I hear stories like this that I realise I am not a nice person, revenge on Balto’s behalf would be cold, long and painful.

Honey, the twelve year old Border Colley will also be moving in if she has not found a home very soon.  Do think about adopting an oldie, long walks not essential, just a warm bed and a gentle touch to make their last months, years happy knowing they are loved.

Adoptions of the younger ones have been good for March, Caramel a gorgeous Labrador found a great home with Brian and the German Shepherd young lady is now called China and travels around in a Mazda sports car !  I’ll be taking Jaly, to be renamed Rosie, as far as Limoges next week to meet her new owners who will be coming down from Tours to collect her.  This leaves her park pal, the lovely Setter/Spaniel Hugo rather lonely, not fair for such a wonderful dog.  So it goes on !

Just had to share these two photos of rare breed dogs with you, Colleyflower and Brocollie (thank you Gerry) – tee hee !

Love,

Sue x

 

 

 

To all of you those under the impression that we here in the Lot live in the ‘Sunny South West’, I have news for you,  we could rename our area the Soaking South West – WHEN is it going to stop raining ?!!

Right, close to Lauzerte there is a village called Montagudet and I was contacted a couple of weeks ago  by a couple who had happened on a house where the shutters were locked and bolted all except for one (thank goodness) which was broken.  On hearing a lot of barking from inside the couple approached and to their horror saw three dogs inside standing in water and poo whilst, from the noise it was obvious that there were many other dogs in other rooms.  Rebecca and Oliver contacted the gendarmes who more or less shrugged their shoulders and the Mairie, “it is only dogs” !!!!  I am already boiling at this stage.  They also contacted the wonderful Brigitte from Montaigu de Quercy, who is an inspector for the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, and Lynne Stone who runs chat du Quercy.  Now Lynne  has guts and determination in spades and she contacted the gendarmes to insist that they investigate the property.  To cut a long story short Rebecca and Oliver received visits from both Brigitte and the gendarmes who admitted that this was indeed a serious case.  The Mayor of the village, an uncaring, slobby, low-life git – “I did not become Mayor to take care of dogs” was dragged kicking and screaming into the case.  It turned out that the owner of the property was a simple guy who lived in his car and who was delighted that help was on hand.  Within 48 hours the 17  dogs were out of that hell hole and on their way to the SPA at Golfech where   they await adoption.  To my horror it was discovered that the Mayor knew of the situation but sat on his fat lazy backside and did nothing.

So, huge thanks to Rebecca and Oliver, Lynne Stone (Chats du Quercy, if you are looking to adopt a cat or kitten get in touch, Lynne does a great job), Brigitte and, finally, the gendarmes.

Now to a happier tale, I am going to tell you the story of Jasper and Jenkins’ Very Big Adventure !!  Regulars to the site will already know of Jasper and Jenkins, two adorable puppies who were on the Poorpaws website back in October/November.  A private refuge in Holland, run by wonderful Lisa, offered to take and home them as they are hunting dogs and could be difficult to home here.  Many collection dates had to be cancelled/postponed for various very valid reasons and in the meantime Jasper and Jenkins were getting Bigger and Bigger !  Then a couple of weeks ago I received a telephone call from  lovely Sunny, a Dutch lady who volunteers at the refuge in Cahors.  She told me she was going to Holland the following week and would take J and J.  I was thrilled – if not a little sad I had grown so fond of these boys.  Sunny said she had never done it before and I reassured her that the worst that could happen would be that they pee or throw up in the cage.  “Oh no” said Sunny “I am flying”.  FLYING ??!!  So Monday 16th February found me at Bergerac Airport with the dogs in a large air transport cage.  I said I would wait at the coffee shop until the flight had actually taken off just in case there were any hitches.  There were none.  I sat by the window and saw Sunny walk by to get on the ‘plane, casting an eye over her shoulder all the while at the baggage transporter behind.  Then I saw the trailer go by with all the cases and, at the end, the cage with my babies in.  I cried !  What were they thinking ?  Did they think I had betrayed them ?  Six months with me having a great time playing and being loved then being crated onto a ‘plane .  Well, when the flight took off, I fell apart.  I am not a good ‘cryer’, I know some people can do it and still look good but I can’t.  I sob, my eyes swell up and I go bright red looking ghastly, ugly and pathetic.  Even knowing that didn’t stop me, I cried my heart out so much so that the couple on the next table were looking and probably thought I had just said goodbye to, or been dumped by, a lover !!   Nah,  wouldn’t cry so much over a bloke !

Anyway, before I had even got home I had received texts from Holland saying they had arrived safely and Sunny emailed me to say that the Captain of the flight even showed her where the dogs were in the hold, in a cosy section seperate from where the cases were.  Latest news is that Jasper has already been adopted.  THANK  YOU  Lisa !  Now I’m going to try to get some photos onto this newsletter but just bear with me !

Hmm, well the photos have all gone to the top of the page !

Other news ?  Adoptions have been great, all the pups have gone, wonderful news is that Jumper has also finally been homed and I’m still hoping that the wonderful Black Jasper gets his forever home soon too, he really is a lovely gentle giant.

Just time to remind you that our Easter Barn Book Sale is on 4th April ( Easter Saturday) at the Hamlet of Beliben next to sauzet in t he Lot, just follow the signs when you get to Beliben.  If you have books or dvd’s (sorry not videos) to donate, get in touch with me.

Love,

Sue x

 

 

Well, the no-chocolate resolution went out of the window two weeks in to the New Year when we received a late Christmas present of a tin of Celebrations !  The sell by date was 2016 but I just couldn’t leave them sitting in their pretty tin death row cell until then and thought the kindest way would be to put them out of their misery.  My friend Gabi said just limit yourself to one or two a day then STEP AWAY FROM THE TIN !  Easy to say but I go more with the theory of eat them all as quickly as possible then they are out of temptation’s way.  So that’s what I did and was slightly (slightly ?) peeved when Ernst who is not bothered about sweets ate the last one, THE  LAST  ONE, when we were playing cards one night.  I’m sure it was because he was losing (again !) and wanted to annoy me.  Actually he loses nearly every time we play recently and what does annoy me is that he just shrugs and says “oh well, it is only a game”.  If that were me I would be jumping up and down shouting “IT’S  NOT  FAIR !!!!”  Must be someting in his German genes  – used to losing now.  Oops, got a feeling that may be slightly politically incorrect !

So here we are, already into February and I am totally fed up with the miserable damp weather we are having.  How I envy mates Mo and Walter in sunny Spain and Liz and Billy in Australia and New Zealand for several weeks.  This is the problem having so many dogs to look after, you cannot just up sticks and decamp for weeks on end, so we are stuck with muddy pawprints all over the floor – and up the back of clothing.  I feel so sorry for the dogs, although they have warm straw filled kennels, it can’t be much fun running round an increasingly muddy garden, though, mind you, they don’t seem to mind !

On the canine front we have quite a few adoptions.  The Shih Tzu’s went like hot cakes and the pups too, but there are more pups who are just as sweet, so if you missed out on the last lot, we have more.  Please consider Jasper and Jenkins,  both totally lovely and both of whom would surely be in great new homes by now if they had not been left hanging/hoping on.  I would love to keep them but we already have 15 dogs who will be with us until……… and I really didn’t want to start with puppies again.  Please also think of the older dogs we have.  Older dogs are great for, dare I say it, older people who don’t want to go through the whole training period and, let’s be brutally honest, is it fair to adopt a dog who may well outlive you and find him/herself in the almost impossible situation of looking for a new home at an advanced age.  One refuge I heard of, gave an 18 month old dog to a lady of 90 !!!  How stupid is that ?!  The lady may well live to 105 but what are the chances and anyway a young dog deserves to be with people who can give an active life, not just be taken in a car to a park, let out to run on his own, then back in the car and home again.  The lady, bless her, is doing her best, but it is not fair on either of them.

Of course I couldn’t let a newsletter go out without a rant, so how about this.  “My wife and I are splitting up and neither of us can take our 1o and 9 year old dogs.  How do we go about it.”    How do you go about it ?  Well you think about your dogs who have probably loved you both unconditionally all those years and have no responsibility for the situation you are in, and provide for them BEFORE you make the decision to move and you ensure that the dogs will stay with one of you.  I am so absolutely fed up with people who come over here, embrace the life get dogs, then find out that everything is not as idyllic as it looks on television programmes, so tough shit for the dogs, back to the refuge or, if they are lucky, on to a new home.  Whichever, through no fault of their own they are adding to an already enormous problem in France.  My friend Rowan who is at Carcassonne refuge has the right reply to people like that.  “Ok, we’ll take your dog but you come with me and pick out which other dog we should  put to sleep in order to make room for yours” !

Hope it will be a bit warmer for the next newsletter !!

Sue x

ps Haven’t bought any clothes and have strictly ignored all “Sales” signs !

 

First of all a Very Happy New Year to you all !   I’m hoping for world tolerance – yeah, good luck with that – and fewer poor dogs in need of help.  Well, a girl can dream can’t she ?!

Looking back at last year’s January News I see that I was disappointed not yet to be in the house for Christmas but delighted that Ernst had not smoked for two weeks.  One year on I am thrilled to say that we spent our first Christmas in my dream country kitchen, woodburner blazing, Christmas tree twinkling, corks a- popping, friends clinking glasses and Betsy my cooker, with whom I have an on/off friendship, behaving beautifully.   As for Ernst ?  Well he still hasn’t had a cigarette since last December.  Brilliant !

Off course I’m still waiting for things that had been promised for Christmas, i.e., guest bedroom, front terrace, and porch, but I did get the kitchen lights (which had been purchased in March) and a door leading from the kitchen to the middle room to avoid us still having to go outside to get to bed.  Well, actually, I got the door but we can’t use it yet because of the Christmas cards.  Not having faith that the door would be in situ I hung Christmas cards across the space, which fell down if the door was opened so in the end I gave up and I and guests braved the cold to get to the bathroom !

As for the porch, this is so that we have somewhere to leave boots and wood before coming into the kitchen.  Well, everywhere we hear that people are looking desperately for work so I was naively thinking that it would be easy to get someone to build a smallish porch to our spécifications.  I KNOW this goes against Ernst’s grain because he likes to do everything himself , but I am running out of patience now.  We contacted three people.  One was a company specialising in porches who came when they said but proposed more of a very posh conservatory at a very posh price.  Thanks but no thanks.  The second guy works alone, couldn’t really understand what we had in mind so I think has shelved us.  The third, the partner of a friend came round about six weeks before Christmas, said he could do it in time then went on to tell us what we should have, which was nothing like what we wanted.  We are still waiting for his “within a week” estimate !!!  Now there is no urgency so it is on Ernst’s ‘to do’ list.  I know he will do it better than anyone, I just wanted it sooner rather than very much later !

So, a new year, new beginnings and a few changes for Poorpaws.  Nothing very much and nothing that will change the ongoing work that Danielle and I do.  By the way, we homed 104 dogs last year !!  104 is an enormous number for just two people so we are really pleased.  What changes ?  Well, I have been doing dog rescue now for thirteen years and get tremendous satisfaction from it.  But over those years there have inevitably been dogs who, for some reason or another have never been adopted so have stayed with us and will do so until the end of their lives.  We have 15 such dogs who live in parks with the tiny oldies sleeping in our bedroom and in the now defunct mobile home.  This means that we are full to bursting and cannot take in any more.  Regulars to the website will know that I mention Danielle a lot.  Danielle is in Castlnau Montratier and many of you know her well already.  She has worked as a cruelty inspector for the Brigitte Bardot Foundation and for the S.P.A.  She does kennelling to help with expenses and, obviously rehoming.  She currently has 25 dogs looking for homes.  Having much larger and more parks than me, Danielle will now take in abandoned dogs when she can and give the best advice.  The Poorpaws website will continue (if only to enable me to let off steam now and again – or again and again !) and the Adoptions page will show the dogs seeking homes, the difference being that the dogs will be chez Danielle.  For those not speaking French (people I mean, not dogs) I will always be available to take you to Danielle’s and help with translation.

Another change is that I will no longer be selling greetings cards at the market on a Saturday at Montaigu de Quercy BUT and this is a big BUT, the cards will still be available at the English Library in Montaigu which is open on Saturday mornings and Wednesday mornings and afternoons.  The Library is situated next to the Office de Tourism at Montaigu.  I have loved my five years at the market and have enjoyed meeting so many people.  However, it really is no longer worth the time and petrol, plus it frees me up to do more rota duties at the library which I love.

Fundraising will continue with our ever popular book sales and clothes sales.  The money raised will, as usual be split between cancer research and ‘dog rescue’.  The latter meaning that Poorpaws will take what is needed to care for the fifteen dogs and to help people in a difficult situation with care for their dogs and be split between Danielle’s refuge ‘La mere aux Betes’ and other needy organisations – Twilight being one.

So, there you have it, I’m retired officially now and going through the joy of trying to get my French pension.  God love’em don’t the French just adore their paperwork ?!

Before I sign off a HUGE thank you to all of you who sent donations for pressies for the dogs, you are just so kind and the dogs had special goodies on Christmas Day ……….and worming tablets on New year’s Day !!

One little giggle,  I was on the way to the vets (for a change !) on New Year’s Eve and saw a little dog frantically running up and down the road in Anglars Juillac.  I stopped and she stopped and sat in the middle of the road.  She wasn’t a puppy as I had thought but was a small Jag Terrier.  Now I am very wary of those little dogs, courageous little blighters who take on sangliers without turning a hair.  Anyway she had a collar with name and ‘phone number and let me put her in the car.  I took her up to the vets (in Prayssac, the best in the land) who recognised the name and were able to confirm that she lived in ….Anglars Juillac !!  I left her there and Jackie the receptionist said she would tell the owners that the dog was found on the Montcuq road !!

Well I’m suffering from Festive Fatigue now and keen to get on with 2015.  Did I tell you last year that I was not going to buy any television series on dvd for a year ?  Well I made it so am now happily compiling a list I need to catch up on.  This year I’m on a no clothes buying and no chocolate eating mission – good luck with that too !!

Have a good one !

Sue x

 

 

 

 

So I start this month with a rant !  Not “hmm I’m rather miffed”,  not even  “I am SO angry”, this is a full blown, rant of catastrophic, off the Richter scale, gale force 180, tornado proportions.  Get the picture ?  

I think that most people, when they adopt from a refuge, accept and are willing to pay a fee in order to help the refuge keep going and support dogs in need.  Here at Poorpaws I ask that any veterinary fees incurred – chip, vaccination for example – are reimbursed and if the adopters would like to add a bit for a donation then of course we are delighted.  I do not impose a set fee, although Danielle, who I work with, does and this is quite normal.  Should a person come along who obviously has a great life to offer a dog but would struggle with the necessary expenses, then Poorpaws is only too happy to help out for the happiness of the dog.

So what happened this month has left me spitting mad.  A lady got in touch looking for a dog and was attracted to one on our website.  Said dog was not actually at Poorpaws but was being fostered by the friend who had found him.  Friend and lady were put in touch, a visit was made and the dog was taken home for a trial period.  We received photos and updates all very pleasing, clearly dog and new owner were very happy.  So then I got in touch to say that as things were going well, I assumed the adoption was going ahead and I would get on with the paperwork.  The dog would be put in to the owner’s name and would she be kind enough to reimburse the 76 euros Poorpaws had paid out for the chip and vaccination.

To say that her reply left me speechless is an understatement.  The person said that she had not been told there would be any payment to be made and as she would have to pay 150 for the neutering and second vaccination herself, she would not be sending us any money.  This apparently “after considerable thought” and from someone who has two homes in France !!  She said she felt “bad” about saying no to a charity  !!  Well I can tell you I felt “bad” too, did the stupid woman think that we are rolling in money, that we just pick more off the trees when we need it ?!  She wanted the dog but Poorpaws has to pick up the tab for a dog that she now owns.  What is more, this moron said that she “didn’t need the dog to be chipped as he would not be travelling”.  Durrrh, numbskull it is obligatory in France for all dogs to be chipped in the name of the owner.   Had I not been sure that the dog would have a good home I would have taken him back, after all he wasn’t chipped in her name, therefore she did not legally own him.  However, I could tell from earlier correspondence that he will have a fab time.

I’m still spitting mad but trying to convince myself that she is not worth the bother and clearly has a pea sized brain.

Contrast the above to the adorable people who happily made a six hour round trip to collect Jude and were falling over themselves to make donations left right and center even though Jude was on the website as a favour to the person who was looking after her and Poorpaws had not paid for anything.  Thank goodness there are people like you Mr. and Mrs. N, around to restore our faith in human nature.

You will see from the adoptions page that there have been quite a few adoptions but also many additions !!  I’d love to see big black Jasper go to a good home, what a gentle giant he is.

I was hoping to be able to put Isabella, a gorgeous Brittany Spaniel on the site this month.  I collected her from a breeder who is selling up and the new people don’t want her.  Well, sad to say, she is still petrified of everybody and panics when I go in to see her – unless I have a treat in my hand !  We’ll get there.

Sad news, our huge old German Shepherd, Rik, had to be put to sleep a couple of days ago.  That broke my heart.  He came to us about five years ago when one owner died and the other was not fit to care for herself, let alone Rik.  The family, all with large houses and gardens wouldn’t take him so he came to us and was a loving old boy for all his time here (except for the day he nearly killed a little bichon we had but we got past that).

Well I’m off to the UK for a couple of days of girlie lunches and to the Royal Albert Hall to see the Senior Tennis Tournemant.

Have a great Christmas and I hope to be in a better mood at the end of December !!!

Sue x

BARNEY HAS BEEN FOUND !!     BARNEY HAS BEEN FOUND !!!  BARNEY HAS BEEN FOUND !!!  BARNEY HAS BEEN FOUND !!!

PLEASE  HELP  FIND  ME !

PLEASE,  PLEASE,  PLEASE  can everyone reading this keep an eye out for Barney (above) ?  One of the most awful things that has ever happened to Poorpaws happened two weeks ago.  Dear, very timid Barney, who was adopted from us a couple of years ago, was looking for a new home because his adoring owners have had to go to UK due to serious health problems and are not sure when/if they will come back.  Barney then went to another lovely couple who, although they fell in love with him, felt he would never fit in to their busy lifestyle.  They were very happy to take Barney everywhere with them but Barney would bolt at the slam of a door or any strange noise.  So it was decided that he should go to Danielle at Castelnau Montratier in the Lot, where he spent two months at the beginning of the year and where he was happy.  He certainly seemed very happy to see Danielle and was put into a large park with a lady friend as company.  The moment Danielle’s back was turned, he jumped on to the roof of his kennel and was away over the fence.  And that was it.  Barney cannot simply have vanished into thin air but that is what he seems to have done.  No-one has seen him (apart from one possible sighting at Vazerac) and all hopes of him trying to find his way back to the Dordogne are fast fading.  So, please, please, if you live in the Lot, Tarn et Garonne, or anywhere around there, keep your eyes open.  Barney is so timid you may not be able to catch him but one good thing about him is that he adores riding in a car and will quickly jump in if a door is open.  Barney is quite a big dog, very frightened but absolutely non aggressive.

Oh, hallo by the way, hope you had a good October, at least I think it was October, could have been August !  It was a very busy month here, what with our Barn Book Sale which raised 1,000 euros – a little down on last year (I blame kindles !) but a very healthy total nonetheless.  It was lovely to see so many usual suspects and funny to see people coming early to get to the cake stall before going in to the books !  Especially nice to see Doreen, a lady I am very fond of who tried to adopt Tiny the Terrible poodle a couple of years ago, then he was just called Tiny before we discovered the ‘terrible ‘ bit (“bit” being the operative word !) !!  Then Doreen, her daughter and I went on a long journey to Angoulême to pick up another little oldie for her.  The refuge would only hand Manou to us personally because of the special care given to their dogs.  Hmm,  Manou was in a lovely foster home with very kind Kate, but as for the special care given by the refuge, well, I won’t go in to that.  Suffice to say that several visits to the vet were necessary for Manou before she blossomed into the lovely happy girl she is now.

Then we had the new and nearly new clothes sale, held as usual at La Sirene restaurant in Montaigu de Quercy (thank you Joyce for the usual yummy lunch) and huge thanks to the two Pats for organising it.  500 euros has gone in to the Poorpaws vet/food tin and the dogs are sure their tums will be full until well in to the New Year.

HOW  MUCH  ?!

The month of October saw the final closing of the donations website opened when Poorpaws No. 1 supporter Gaynor made the amazing Tour de France cycle ride.  Here is the official handing over of the 3,000 euro cheque which will enable Danielle to improve kennels and parks for all her Poorpaws.  Again I say, Gaynor you are a star !

Adoptions in October saw all the Brittany Spaniel pups being homed (one seems to have found his way to me, hmm, wonder how that happened !  Ernst still can’t understand why he (Jip the pup) hasn’t been adopted yet ….!).  It also saw Gaby legging it the day before her new family came up from Toulouse to adopt her !  They found another needy soul at the refuge in Toulouse and Gaby was brought home a few days later by a family who asked if they could adopt her, so alls well that ends well.  Lucky has gone back to his previous owners who found out that the hospital had mislead them and the gentleman wasn’t allergic to Lucky at all, but to dairy products !  That was a close thing as Lucky was to be going to a new home a few days later and this is where  my faith in human nature was restored.  His original owners said that if he had found a new home, although they were very sad, they would not stand in the way of the adoption.  The future owners returned serve saying that there was no way they could take a dog from people who obviously felt deeply for him and who had given him such a good start in life.  I was hoping that Joy would sidle into the vacant place left, but perhaps after Christmas.  Christmas ? Yikes !

Right, this is not a rant but a gentle prod.  Your dog’s identification paper.  Do you know where it is ?  If not, find it and put it with the health record booklet.  A couple of times recently there have been difficulties rehoming dogs because the owners cannot find the identification paper from I-CAD.  This is a real problem as copy papers have to be applied (and paid !) for, in the original owner’s name before the dog can be transferred legally to his/her new owners.  It wastes a lot of time and should, god forbid, you wish to rehome your dog, you are responsible for all his/her actions whilst in your name.  So if you give your dog away without changing the id paper, if he causes an accident or goes chasing chickens/sheep, whatever, you are responsible even if he no longer lives with you.

Ok, enough rambling !

Have a good month.  It’s my birthday this month and friends keep asking what I am going to do to celebrate.  Well it’s this.  For a change I am going to stay at home all day and have a complete ‘me’ day.  I won’t get up at seven to walk the dogs , they are going to have to have a lie in too, I won’t do any housework (not much change there then) but I will sit down and read for hours if I want to, have Cadbury’s chocolate for lunch and watch dvd’s all afternoon.  Ernst will cook supper (he’s better at it than me anyway !) and in the evening we will go to the cinema (being a vegetarian, a visit to a posh restaurant is not much of a treat ).

Sue x

 P.S.Had to share this with you, it made me laugh so much, sorry if it offends !

 

3,055 euros !!  THREE  THOUSAND  AND  FIFTY  FIVE  EUROS !!!!!!!  That is the AMAZING sum that Gaynor raised on her incredible Tour de France cycle back in July !  I cannot find the words to thank her and all of you who donated.  The money will be put to improve old, and build new kennels with extra insulation to keep the dogs warm in the Winter and cool in the Summer.  THANK  YOU  THANK  YOU  THANK  YOU !!!!

So what is with this weather ?!  Sleeveless tshirts in October ?!  I feel sorry for the tourists who, having worked all year, had rotten weather for their Summer holidays and very sorry for the people who make their year’s money during the Summer months as I am sure that this year will not have encouraged people to come back to our area (Midi Pyrenees) in future.

However for those of you who like to spend your children’s inheritance and holiday when the schools are open again September was glorious.  We had an absolutely fantastic week down at Cap d’Ail and, yes, I did the Ice Bucket Challenge (see last month’s news).  It was recorded on video and I was hoping to put it in this newsletter but I cannot fathom how to do it.  I’ll get instruction and try to add it later.

Adoptions were great this month, the lovely Jag was rehomed, the Boy Brittany, puppies galore and all three Coton de Tulears have found really fabulous homes.  Of course more have come in as you will see from the adoptions page.  Barney is a beautiful boy looking for a family who will bring him on out of his shyness, there is not an ounce of aggression in him, just needs to feel secure.  There are several spaniel type pups and Jenkins and Jasper pups are with me and I can vouch for them being great fun.  People worry about taking pups with hunting dog in them but they are the gentlest of dogs and make great companions.  Obviously a fenced in garden would be preferable.

Josie had a great time with Jojo (again, see last month’s news) and I am sure Chris and Diane would have kept her if the little minx hadn’t given them a fright by jumping over their wall on to the main road. 

Oh, mustn’t forget, our Book Sale is on October 11th at Lesley’s Barn, in the Hamlet of Beliben just down the road from Sauzet (Lot).  Do, please come and support us, buy your winter fireside reading – or poolside if you are escaping the Winter – and stock up on the fabulous home made cakes.

Then on the 29th October we have our New and Nearly New Clothes Sale to be held as usual at La Sirene restaurant at Montaigu de Quercy, from 11am.  Come and have a browse and a jolly good and reasonable lunch or even just a coffee.  There is a great selection of bargains to be had.

Finally you seemed to like my Household Hints so here is another.  When doing a white wash always check that you haven’t already flung a red teatowel into the machine thinking the next wash would be coloureds !! Anyone need some pink tshirts, towels and sheets ?!

No rant this month (sorry Shelagh and Mo), could I be turning nice in my old age ?!  Bet your life next month I’ll be ranting about the French Pensions Office !

Enjoy the last of the sunshine !

Sue x